Prejudice
by pollyglyph
Summary: Iceburg struggles to cope with the fact that Paulie and Kalifa seem to blindly hate each other.


_**I just really want Iceburg to talk to Paulie about the way he treats women.**_

* * *

"Mr Iceburg, I'm here to make another complaint about Paulie," Kalifa announces.

Standing in front of his desk, she shifts uncomfortably with her diary clutched close to her chest, hiding a little behind it.

"Again?" Iceburg looks up from his paperwork, and shakes his head. "What was it this time?"

"He called me a slut again sir," she states with a scowl. "More besides, but that's the basic summary."

"Hmm," Iceburg replies.

He takes a moment to try to work out how to proceed.

Kalifa cuts him off.

"Men like him, they're sick," she says sharply. "Always undressing me with his eyes and thinking about all the utterly shameful things he wants to do with me. Yet he still has the nerve to go and tell me that's my fault because of the clothes I wear?"

She adjusts her glasses with one hand, the other still holding her book protectively against her.

"Doesn't he realise his words are just as violent as all that silly roughhousing he does with Lucci? Honestly sir. With behaviours like this and that I can't understand how you haven't fired that man already. It's barbaric."

"Well, I'll have to have a talk with him again," Iceburg sighs. "Sorry that he's always harassing you Kalifa."

"Frankly, I don't understand it. You're so respectful to women and he seems to revere you. Why is he such a lout?"

"I won't excuse his behaviour, far from it," he begins. "But I wonder whether it would be helpful if I try to find out where it's coming from, perhaps there's some deeper reason for it. That might help to work out how best to deal with it."

He cups his chin in his hand and thinks to himself.

"For whatever reason, he must be threatened by you," he added. "Perhaps, similar to yourself with men, there was some experience with women that hurt him so he lashes out. Or maybe it's the behaviour of a young man struggling with his sexuality and he doesn't know how to deal with it."

He sighs and shakes his head. Paulie was stubborn. Even if he asked him, Paulie still might not give him much to go by.

"Anyway, like I said, I'll talk to him seriously about this."

"Thank you sir," Kalifa answers. "Though I severely doubt it'll make a difference."

She grips into her diary so hard her nails almost tear into the leather cover.

"That chauvinistic little troll," she seethes. "Sometimes I just want to drive my stilettos into his balls and see how he likes that. Maybe that would teach him how sexual harassment feels."

The look on her face is so sharp and bitter, twisted with anger and heavy with deep hurt.

"Men like that deserve to be killed painfully."

"His behaviour is unacceptable," Iceburg starts.

He looks at her cautiously.

"But frankly Kalifa," he admits nervously. "That was a little bit disturbing, what you just said."

She sighs and tries to collect herself. Her grip on the diary relaxes.

"Sorry sir," Kalifa says. "I don't know what came over me there."

"I can imagine how deeply uncomfortable he makes you feel. But violence won't solve anything."

"I know that sir. He just makes me so angry sometimes."

Anger was difficult to deal with, he knows. So for now, he lets that moment slide.

"Anyway," he moves on. "Just as you've been doing Kalifa, let me know if there are any further incidents and I'll deal with them appropriately."

"I will sir," she replies. "And thank you for taking this seriously."

"You don't need to thank me for something like that. It is serious."

"I'll get back to my office now," she explains.

"I'll call him over straight away and have a talk."

Once she leaves, Iceburg picks up the receiver of his transponder snail and calls over to Dock One.

"Is Paulie there?" he says gravely. "Would you send him over to see me?"

* * *

Paulie sits waiting outside his office when Iceburg opens the door.

"Paulie, a word please?" he states and shows him in.

Iceburg sits back down at his desk. Paulie stands very upright at the front with his hands tucked nervously behind his back.

"Kalifa isn't happy," Iceburg starts. "She said you're harassing her again."

He shakes his head and Paulie tries not to meet his eye.

"Paulie, I thought we talked about this before. I'm disappointed. This is the second time I've had to warn you now. If this happens again, we'll have to write this up and take disciplinary action."

"What?" Paulie protests and he goes red. "You're not serious sir, are you?"

"Completely," Iceburg replies.

He pauses, wondering how best to breech the subject.

"If you don't mind me asking," he asks carefully. "What exactly is your problem with Kalifa, Paulie?"

He goes redder and tenses, not only on his face, but his entire body seems to fill with unbridled fury.

"Women like her are only after two things, money and sex," he spits. "They're the kinds of amoral women who clean men out of house and home, ditching the poor suckers once they got what they came for."

His fists clench and his jaw tightens, and if he's not mistaken, Iceburg sees his eyes start to water.

"And then there's poor kids left with no fathers, and single mothers who can't cope with all the shit left in the slut's wake. It's dangerous having someone like her around the shipyard. Who knows who she might lure in and ruin sir?"

"You talk about all that like it's from experience," Iceburg replies.

"My dad got played by some hussy," Paulie rages. "Left me and my mother for her and didn't she steal every last thing he had too just to top the whole pile of shit off."

His voice cracks a little bit, but he tries his best to cover it up.

"I'll never forgive that goddamn home wrecking bitch."

"It sounds like it was a very difficult experience."

"Understatement of the year."

"Hmmm," Iceburg goes silent for a moment. "It's very difficult to explain just how uncomfortable it is for Kalifa when you talk to her like that."

"She needs a lesson in morality and decency sir, how else is she going to learn?"

"That's enough Paulie!" Iceburg shouts. "Honestly, it's shocking to hear you speak like that."

He stares sharply at Paulie and he shies back a little in response.

"You're judging her without even getting to know her, and not just her," he explains angrily. "You're making sweeping generalisations about a lot of women based on one bad experience. It's dangerous, and the way you're behaving is very threatening."

He tries his best to calm down, self-conscious of coming across as aggressive now himself. He didn't want to be the kind of boss who ruled using anger.

"Sorry for raising my voice. I understand that was a difficult experience and I sympathise with you Paulie for it," he said, a lot softer this time but still assertive. "But you need to nip this prejudice of yours in the bud before it gets any worse and you end up really hurting someone."

"I'd never hit a woman sir, if that's what you mean," Paulie replied sheepishly.

"Then maybe take a little bit more care with how you talk to them, because it can come across just as violently."

He gives it a moment to let that sink in.

"It might be the damage you've done already is too much for Kalifa to forgive you," Iceburg says. "But try to get to know her as a person and that might help you to be able to treat her, and other women too, with a bit more compassion."

Paulie shuffles awkwardly, and brushes a hand at his neck without responding.

"This discussion is over for now," Iceburg states. "I'd like you to take this seriously and think it over Paulie."

"Sorry sir," he mumbles.

"Don't apologise to me, apologise to Kalifa," Iceburg suggests. "Now, back to the shipyard Paulie."

Paulie leaves the room with his head dipped low.

Iceburg tries to get back to his paperwork, but it's difficult for him to refocus.

Tom had prepared him for many things in life, but he hadn't really taught him how to deal with employees that fought or mistreated each other. Hurt people with a lot of fear mischanneled into anger and hate, who refused point blank to try to understand one another and learn to see eye-to-eye. When he and Franky had butt heads, Tom had mostly just laughed and shrugged it off. Perhaps because it was so difficult to know how else to respond without adding yet more hurt into the mix. He worries that perhaps he hadn't managed to handle it all as well as he could have.

He groans in the painful realisation that he too, at one point in his life, must have been a difficult employee to deal with. He must have given Tom hell back then. He was always so sure that he was the one in the right, and, at times, he is still just as convinced.

He knows it's about time he patched things back up with Franky, but he's still working all those painful feelings through. He still isn't ready to forgive him just yet.


End file.
